Hey. Im Will. Thanks a lot for joining me today, guys. Ive
got another really cool video for you, another cure to a common
mistake that guitarists make when youre learning right here
on YouTube. Today Im going to talk about alternate picking.
This video is really connected with the last four videos that
Ive released. Ive got two on right hand stability and two
on how you hold a pick. Now this is totally connected with
those other videos. So were going to get into alternate
picking in a second, but if you havent checked-out those
videos they are online and available for your consumption for
free. So go check those out. And if you are all up to speed
with the WillRipley.com lessons, were going to learn it in
your point of view. So lets talk about alternate picking.
So weve got this right hand and in my last four videos we
got our right hand stabilized. Weve got the pick held in
the correct way. Weve got that pick on an angle and were
looking really good. Nice work, guys. So thats all solid.
Now, what I want to talk to you about is alternate picking.
What are we alternating? Were alternating down and up.
Its really as simple as that. Why do we want to alternate?
Well, for a bunch of reasons. We want to alternate if were
playing anything fast. We want to alternate to make what
were playing sound less static and inject more rhythm into it.
What ends up happening is we most commonly will play down
strokes. Thats kind of like our tendency right off the
bat, is just to down stroke. Now, down strokes are kind of
like your right hand; an upstroke is kind of like your left
hand. Your right hand is strong and youve got more control
over it, whereas your left hand is a little weaker and you
have less control over it. However, think about it this way.
What would life be without
both hands?
Same thing with guitar playing. We need both directions
of the pick in order to get the full spectrum of a rhythm
and speed and accuracy and all that kind of stuff.
So lets put this to work.
What were going to do is were going to grab this classic
little workout. I know it doesnt sound that cool, however
were just worrying about getting this going on today. What
were going to do is alternate with each of those notes.
Generally speaking before wed start with a down stroke.
So weve got all our good stability and pick holding going
on and now lets start with a down stroke now well go for
an upstroke and repeat. You can do this anywhere, by the way.
Were just tying everything in with all those other videos
that I was talking about.
So thats alternate picking for you guys. Keep on ripping it up.